Empty
by Serias
Summary: Angela Petrelli is doing her best to prevent a fallout she saw in one of her prophecy dreams, her weapon of choice? Elle Bishop.
1. Prologue

**Empty**

Prologue

_There was no way out,_

_the only way out was to give in.  
How I love to give in._

Elle sputtered and coughed as she came back to awareness, back to life. Her vision was blurry, as if she were looking at some painting that had gotten splashed with a bucket of water, and it had all started to spread together, the colors pushing against one another. Blinking did not immediately help, as the muddy colors suddenly seemed to increase in quality and clarity as the moments went by. She was in a bed, though she wasn't entirely sure who's until she noticed the picture on the dresser. A happy family, from at least five years ago, two sons, and proud looking parents. The Petrellis.

Angela looked different there, more like a soccer mom than a silver fox, minus the silver. Elle attempted to sit up, only to be held down by the restraints on her forearms. She struggled for a moment, hoping maybe there was a chance of escape but collapsed back against the pillows behind her head when she deemed it impossible. It was in that moment, the aging barracuda walked in, a knowing softened smile on her lips. Angela was always in control.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Elle."

So it wasn't a dream, Gabriel had actually sliced her skull open, the bastard. She could remember thinking how wonderful things were going to be for them, how normal and easy their lives would be. And moments later she felt the blinding pain, his power ripping her skin apart, her skull apart, her apart. He would pay for that, many times over.

"I brought a friend...A few actually, some people you spent a lot of quality time with as a child. But first things first."

Elle immediately recognized the man that hovered in the doorway for a moment before he entered. The Haitian. He could only be here for one of two reasons, to make something go away or to give it back. Was Angela going to use her in some sort of twisted game, erase her memory and plot some insane plan to once and for all take out Sylar? That was the fear that crept into her mind, and settled there, as the dark skinned man raised his hand to her forehead, and she felt her world once again go black.

The pain she felt was like a million pin pricks against her skin, agonizing and slight all in the same instance. And then the flood of images, the moment her father had tested on her, the memories of her family before she had become nothing more than a human lab rat. She had been normal. She had been happy. She had been headed for a life as something other than a sociopath. Her father had taken that all away from her...At least she could remember it now.

It seemed her fate to be raped of her life by the men she came into contact with. Her father take her chance to be normal, Peter had used her feelings for him to take advantage of and attempt escape, and Gabriel...Well he had simply taken everything. The pain was still blinding, and the realization that her life had never been hers every step of the way, caused her to wretch forward when the Haitian finished his work, a heavy sob escaping her lips.

"Hurts doesn't it? The truth. I remember what that was like, Elle, but you'll find it's also incredibly liberating. You can't avenge the crimes against you, until you know what they are."

She almost felt as if Angela was the cricket on her shoulder in this moment, whispering in her ear like a dirty conscience, telling her to take back what was hers in the first place. The young blond attempted to suck in a few deep breaths, so her voice could function again, and then she asked a question that held so much weight.

"...why?"

Her tone was raspy, as if she had spent weeks not speaking. But she had to know what the reasoning behind these actions were, Angela never did anything without absolute focus, and knowing the endgame she was working before.

"Because the game has changed Elle, and as far as the world knows, save for Sylar, you're still alive. You could be a valuable asset, given the right tools to be so. I intend to cultivate that resource."

A look of disdain slowly made it's way over her features, as she was suddenly pushed back to the last conversation she had with Angela. The woman had more or less told her she was useless and thrown her out on her ass, without so much as a severance check.

"What in the hell makes you think I would help you? The world could not have changed that much."

"You'd be surprised, darling. We're being hunted down, treated as little more than animals who will inevitably turn on and attack those around them. We need to level the playing field and stop this operation entirely. Join me, and you will be apart of that. Don't, and you'll be stuck in a cell were you can't shock a thing for the rest of your life. Your choice." That smile that looked like the cat that caught the canary made its way across the face of the older woman again, because she knew Elle was stuck between a rock and hard place.

Elle chewed her bottom lip, searching the comforter fro a moment in hopes she would find some option other than the ones she had been presented with. She could attempt life on her own, avoid whatever power was after them all. She had the training and the know how. But it came down to being either the hunted prey, or being somewhat in control of her own destiny for the first time.

"What do I have to do?"


	2. The war won

_A|N: This chapter further establishes what has happened, the next one will pick up in pacing and action._

_As well as more characters, including one I'm excited to bring in since he's my favorite. _

**Empty**

Chap 1

_Sickness was fixing me some,_

_Coughed out my heart in the last stall._

_Now that the damage is done, _

_I never miss it at all._

"How did you bring me back?"

It was a question she was dying to know, or had died to know...Either way, it was important. It had been a day, and Angela had finally agreed to remove the restraints. Elle had no reason to run, and no place to go if she did.

"Time travel. I located someone with a power similar to Hiro Nakamura's, and promised him his safety if he would return us to the moment before you went completely up in smoke. Sylar was gone, we put you out, and I borrowed some blood from my granddaughter. Quite simple, really."

Elle looked out the window for a moment, her thoughts from far the small room she was in. On a man she did want to see again, if little more than to find a way to show him, to make him feel all the pain he had caused her. But Elle had always functioned as an agent, and she knew that Angela expected that exact capacity of her. Follow instructions. Do as she was told. Finish the mission.

"What's the plan then? No offense, but you could have chosen a better poster child."

Angela's lips curled upward, and she offered Elle a slight nod. "That I could have. But that's just the thing, anyone who comes up against you prepared will have read your psychological profile. They'll expect you to behave as you did, before your....Enlightenment."

Something about the words, and the way the dripped off of Angela's lips told the young blond revenge would be a factor. Maybe it was the fact that she knew Arthur had manipulated the powerful woman before in a similar way as Elle had been. Made her into a victim, a weak and unknowing bystander as he took all the power. Took all her power.

"My intentions are this, give you whatever you need to show this nation what a man like Danko is truly capable. Sway the public to our side, become the asset to this Public Relations war that Nathan failed to be. Stop those of us who decide to walk some way other than the straight and narrow."

"Sylar?"

His name came out as a whisper, as if she were a child saying the name of some nonexistent bogeyman that hid in the closet when the lights went off.

"Angela, you and I both know how well that went the last time. He's got my power and Claire's....I can't touch him."

It was then Claude Rains entered the room, as if Angela had set him to do so on cue. He was the closest thing to family Elle considered herself to have at this point, he had been the one that told her it was okay to be angry with her father. The way his lips edged upward, didn't quite look like a smile, but the Englishman often only seemed to truly smile when he was torturing those around him with some sort of sarcastic undertone.

"Should have stayed in London, Ellie. Might have lasted longer, and lived to tell the tale. And then you wouldn't be in this mess, where the former Queen mother of Primatech would want to use you."

Angela gave him a dry look at that comment, but then turned back to face Elle. "I have one more vile of the formula left, if worse comes to worst, we'll see what the reaction is when it is used on someone who already has an ability. For now, Claude will be your _silent _partner, and Rebel will be your eyes and ears."

"Rebel?" Elle queried, her eyebrows knitting together in confusion as Angela handed her a Sidekick cellular phone.

"A guardian angel of sorts, it seems. He was actually the one that put together this whole little plan, clever man."

The vague nature of Angela's statement lead Elle to believe she didn't know the exact identity of Rebel yet, but she trusted him all the same. It was then Elle got out of the bed, more or less for the first time since she had woken up, other than to go to the restroom. Her legs still felt a little shaky, which led her to believe the muscles had to relearn a little, her body didn't seem to incorporate the healing like Claire's did.

"Then let's do this."

Angela motioned to the drawer next to her, where Elle pulled out a pair of jeans, a navy blue tank top, and a jacket to go over it. She slid the jeans up under her hospital gown, not paying any attention to the fact that Claude was still in the room.

"I want you aware, though...I see Sylar, I'm going after him. If only to give him a taste of the torture I plan to inflict on him if I ever get my hands on him for good."

Her light blue eyes seemed to almost glow as she spoke, her gaze locked firmly with Angela's as he continued to dress herself. But she only saw the faint presence of a smile begin to spread across the mouth of the older woman.

"That's not a problem, dear. I think that might be a nice exercise for you."

There was too little resistance from Angela, Elle knew better than to trust that a foreign maternal instinct had taken over and now the woman actually cared about her, about anyone. Her eyes drifted to the floor, contemplative, as she pulled the jacket on. And then it hit her, like a hard punch in the gut.

"You did something to me, didn't you? If not the vile, then what?"

The more time she spent sorting out the memories that were taken from her, the more different she became. Less of a victim, less of a psycho, less of anything she used to be. Before she had waltzed around and allowed the world to use her a pawn, that would not happen again. Ever.

"Call it a power boost, it's the first time it's been attempted. Just as Matt Parkman's ability evolves to the point where he can control the thoughts of others, I have no doubt yours will lead a similar path, Mohinder Suresh did his best to come up with a way to hurry it along. We'll see if it works, though."

Angela then too moved to stand, setting herself at equal footing, waiting for Elle to claim what an outrage her actions were. But the younger woman simply got that look of pondering on her face again, eyes beginning to search the area around her slowly, as if she wasn't there at all. Elle was thinking of the fact that she might be able to incapacitate Sylar, and shove a knife into his brainstorm. Burn his body, as he had supposedly attempted to do to her.

"Where to then?"

"Emile Danko's Apartment, I'd like you to give him a message for me. Since he decided to throw my son out a window."

"And that is?"

"We're coming. And we're going to show him if he means us to be terrorists, we'll make him our target."

Claude interjected at this point, looking smug as always. "I doubt that will work, he's not exactly the time to piss his trousers over your intimidation. Or hers." He motioned his head towards Elle.

"That's not why I'm doing it, he will start a war with us one way or the other. This way, he thinks we have some sort of advantage he may not know about. Namely, uniting."

Elle finished her dressing ritual by pulling her hair back into a ponytail, listening but not commenting on what was going on between those in the room with her. The conversation ended at that, and Angela gave the address of where they would be heading.

"Are you ready?" Claude asked, arching a brow at her.

"I was born for this, born ready."


	3. Sick Muse

_A|N: This chapter is shorter then I'd like but for some reason my muse wants to get onto some of the stuff that's in my head._

**Empty**

Chap 2

_Watch out Cupid, stuck me with a sickness,  
Pull your little arrows out and let me live my life.  
You better watch out Cupid, stuck me with a sickness,  
Pull your little arrows out and let me live my life,  
_

The apartment was dark, she could hear the sound of Danko setting down his keys on the counter as he arrived home. She wouldn't wait till he settled in, till he was comfortable, she would go now. Her steps carried her forward, and she did not doubt that Claude was on her heel, though she couldn't see him anymore. Standing in one of the shadows of his apartment, she went to speak, but then saw him eying what appeared to be a stuffed small animal. A rabbit.

"Really wouldn't have figured you for the taxidermy type." She said, the sarcasm starting to work it's way into her words. "But I've been told you're the hunter, so perhaps it makes sense." She shrugged her shoulders, feeling confident as she raised her palm and allowed a blue bulb of electricity to dance within it. She had forgotten to take into account what effect Mohinder's tampering with her genetics might have, as the blue ball bobbed for a moment, then emitted a pulse, like a circular ripple that burst around the room.

Danko collapsed to the floor, and she heard the thump of Claude doing the same behind her, as she glanced back to see him fade back into view. Something told her that was only the beginning, but before she could attempt it again, the skin of her throat felt as if it were beginning to tighten. Her small form was thrust against the adjacent wall, as she attempted her hardest to suck in air.

It was then she saw him, looking just as he did the day she died. Vicious. Evil. Before he could even speak, her mind reminded her of his tone, how Gabriel always sounded soft and naïve. But Sylar, he never sounded anything other than predatory, ready to make the kill at any moment.

That was the rumble in the voice she was met with.

"I thought I killed you." He growled at her.

She coughed, wanting to show him that she could respond, that she had been waiting for this moment.

"Didn't take...care to...go for..." She sputtered for a moment, then continued. "Round two?"

He smiled in a way that made her stomach twist, not with fear, but with actual disgust. A thick brow arched upwards, and he shrugged his shoulders in unision with it's motion.

"Sure. Lover."

His hand raised, as he went to make another incision on her forehead, but in that moment she was able to turn a palm to face him. Mustering all the strength she had, she blasted him as hard as was possible. It wasn't like in the Cell of Electricity, where he would fall to the floor and rise again as his wounds healed. This time he fell, but did not stand.

Elle ended up on the floor, clutching her throat as she tried to regain the breath she had lost. On hands and knees she first crawled over to Claude, and found that his pulse was still beating in a steady rhythm, and shook him till his eyes blinked open.

"Shoulda tried that one out before we took it into the field" He said, as he moved to sit up and noticed the unconscious man next to him. "Bollocks, how the Hell did he get here?"

Elle's eyes floated back to Sylar, she knew he too would wake up eventually, and it prevented her with a dilemma. She shook her head before she was able to utter a response, her thoughts weighing heavy as she studied his apparently unconscious form.

"Knocked him out."

Claude's mouth twitched upwards, and he patted Elle on the head like one might a small child. She glanced at him with a perplexed look, do to his odd action.

"You didn't get enough of those when you were a small thing, love. Thought I'd make up for it."

He winked at her, but there was no mistaking the sarcasm in the gesture and the words that followed.

"We should take him back to Angela."

She hoped that the leader in their little plight would actually have some sort of way to contain the serial killer, she had pretty much owned Primatech after all. And then, perhaps, Elle could have some alone time where he was finally at her disposal, and not the other way around.

"And what about the hunter? Bring him too?"

"No."

She got to her feet, extending a hand to Claude to help him off the floor. Then they both pulled Sylar up, till he was standing, an arm over each of their shoulders.

"We should have had her send a telekinetic along with us."

Elle couldn't help but chuckle, though it was strained due to the weight she was carrying. She was sure that even if they did have a someone with the power to simply move the man on her shoulder, she would have been telling them to hurry it up. She wanted him alone on her terms, and she wanted it as quickly as possible.

"Let's just get him to the car, okay?"


	4. Like a Hammer

_A|N: Thank you for all those that reviewed! I helps my motivation to write tons! -Gives Pokey, Lemomina, Celeste and Di_elle cookies- ;D_

**Empty**

Chap 3

_Help I'm alive, my heart keeps beating like a Hammer._

_Hard to be soft, tough to be tender._

Elle wasn't at all surprised that Angela had a makeshift cell in the basement, though she did wonder who had inhabited it before Sylar came to be there. She also was wondering after where Angela had procured all the things necessary to sedate Sylar's ability, but she knew better than to ask questions. She would get no answers. At least, none that Angela didn't already want her to know.

It was a bit like the cells on level five, a wide glass pane window, where she and the Petrelli Matriarch stood. Angela seemed to be studying him, glad to once again have power over him in this situation. But she could see something else, fear behind the older woman's eyes, something she was doing her best to conceal and bury. This was her home, or at least the place she was making her home until they fought of Danko and his brigade.

"Would you like me to go back to Danko, and re-deliver the message?" Elle said, finally breaking the silence they had been standing in.

"No, I think he'll get the meaning quite well, when he wakes up with the headache you've given him, rather than dead."

Elle's attention turned back to Sylar, as he stirred in the cell, mumbling something incoherent in his sleep. A song lyric danced in the back of her head, something she had gotten into on one of her missions, where she pretended to be someones friend. Something by Damien Rice, though she couldn't place the title of the song at the moment.

"Oh I know that I left you in places of despair." She whispered to herself, hoping Angela wouldn't hear her.

She didn't.

"I think he's about to come round, dear. I'll leave it up to you whether or not you're in there when he wakes up, but for now I have other business to attend to. Cleaning up after my sons is harder than anyone thinks."

She pivoted, her heels clicking against the hard floor as she made her way to the stairs that led upwards. Elle stood there for a moment, debating in her mind if she should be there when his blinked open, or leave him to rot in with no company for a few days. She settled on the prior, though for the life of her she couldn't justify why.

The door opened slowly after she entered the code, and she pulled the only stool in the room over, until she was sitting by his bedside. It reminded her of the last time he had been to level 5, and the glimpses she had stolen of him then. She was like a school girl, with a destructive crush, even at that point she believed he was redeemable. Somewhere deep within her, she believed if she simply loved him enough, it would save him.

She wasn't that naive anymore.

Raising a palm opened over his chest, she had practiced a little more with her power now. She let the electricity dance out of her palm, and watched as some of the hairs of his chest curled and denigrated with the contact.

"Wakey, Wakey." She said, her tone echoing the playful nature she once possessed. His eyes blinked, and then he gave a groan, which slowly sounded more like a growl.

"Stop that." Came out of his mouth, low and demanding.

"Make me."

She didn't expect him to grab her wrist like he did, sitting quickly upwards so his face was only inches from hers. His dark eyes were locked completely on her pale ones, and the flair of sexual tension was no doubt felt by both. But that was a different time, and they were different people.

"Let go of me, or I'll light you up like Christmas again. And this time you won't heal instantly, Gabriel."

He didn't relent, his grip stayed tight upon her wrist, even as she twisted to open her palm, and let the blue light within it start do dance. His eyes drifted to it's twists and turns, to the way it weaved and bobbed within her hand. They then found their way to hers again, and she saw something in his face soften, in a way she didn't recognize.

"Sylar. My name is Sylar. Are you going to punish me, Elle? Penance for my sins?"

"Let. Go."

"Make me." He retorted, using her own line against her. She had thought the moment she walked into the small cell, she would have the complete advantage against him. The power over him, that he had always had over her. But she was now finding it hard to simply blow him to kingdom come, and when he noticed her hesitation, he made his move. Swiftly, he pressed her against the wall of his make shift prison, his hips pinning hers.

"You can't, can you?" She could hear the chuckle in his voice, as if this was all nothing more than a mockery. Her eyes looked up at him, smoldering with anger beneath her lashes.

"Maybe I don't want to. Maybe I want answers first....A confession."

This time he did laugh, so much so that it was obvious, she could hear it. He curled his body slightly, so that his face was closer to hers. Using everything she knew about him against her, everything she had ever felt for him against her.

"Oh, about what might that be?"

She attempted to shrug her shoulders, to appear nonchalant about what she was about to say. She wanted him to be on as much of an edge as he was putting her on. "Nothing too exciting. Just why you sliced my forehead open, then decided to burn the body."

It was then her gaze lifted solidly, to meet his. To show him that she was no longer afraid of him, and that she had done the one thing he never wanted anyone to do. He was the man that figured everyone else out, that solved them all, learned what made the tick like the timepieces he had fixed for so many years. She was the only one that was gaining a fair understanding of how he ticked.

"I was a liability, a problem. Something that made you weak, and heaven forbid anything ever make you vulnerable, make you just plain old Gabriel, and not the God like Sylar."

His pressure increased for a moment, and then suddenly he was gone, turning his back to her. Elle knew he was trying to hide something, trying not to show the emotions he so reviled. She held out her arm, and sent a bolt right into his back, enough that he stumbled forward only to trip over his own feet and land with his arms over the cot.

"Don't run from me, this isn't the beach, you don't get to be in control here."

He coughed for a moment, and then turned to face her, pivoting his hips as he stayed low to the ground.

"Gabriel is dead."

It was now Elle's turn to chuckle, she shook her head, and made her way across the room, crouching when she reached him. The smile was wide, as if she knew something he didn't. Knew him in ways he didn't know himself.

"Wrong. Gabriel went searching for his daddy, because he's such a bad boy now, and he wanted to know why. Why you killed the woman you loved, instead of figured out if she was actually lying. Why you let yourself be manipulated by the Petrelli's. Why you sought so hard to please the man you thought was your father for all these years. Gabriel is very much alive, and Sylar is just the manifestation of all the bad things he does, but doesn't want to own up too. Sylar is a cop out."

She could feel the tears, as they began to stream down her cheeks, a cooling sensation against her all but burning flesh. He had turned his head away from her at some point, but the last line had caused his neck to wipe back to face her, and his hand shot out reflexively to telekinetically grip her throat. But his power wasn't working, and she simply reeled back, till she was sitting on her ass, staring at him in amazement.

"Is that your reflex now, Gabriel?! You don't like it, so just kill it? Is that how you're going to live your life?! Here! Let me help you!" She screamed, twisting her body so she was on all fours, and crawling over to him, taking his hands into her own. She placed them around her neck, squeezing a little.

"Use these, don't use your power as crutch. Kill me with your own two hands! Do it!"

His eyes were hard on her, and she could feel the tips of his fingers dig against her flesh. He pressed her backwards, into the floor, and she thought at any moment the pressure would increase, and he would finish the job he failed at before. But it never came.

"That's what I thought." She gripped his wrists, charging her palms a little as she pulled his hands back from her neck. She moved to stand, brushing her pants off and leaving him in his huddle on the floor. She glanced back at him as she made her way out of the room, her face a mask of steel.

"I am going to punish you, I'm just not entirely sure how yet....Until then? Enjoy some alone time, no one wants to visit you."

She cast her eyes forward, not looking back as she walked through the door. "Goodbye, Gabriel."


	5. The lightning strike

_A|N: Just so you know, "The animals were gone" is the song that Elle keeps thinking of. _

_I'm having a hard time not theming this with music every where, sadly._

_Thank you to those that reviewed, I love the input._

_And Emerald Sorceress, thank you for the bunch of feedback, loved it!_

**Empty**

Chap 4

_What if this storm ends?  
And I don't see you as you are now, ever again.  
The perfect halo of gold hair and lightning._

_Be the lightning in me that strikes relentless._

Days passed, and the only thing that truly differed between the time he had spent in level 5 and the time he spent in his new cell, was that he wanted out for different reasons. It was an internal battle. Part of him wanted to escape and make Elle pay for everything, pay for the things she said, pay for making him second guess himself. But the other part of him wanted to figure out how to fix whatever what was between them, however incredibly fractured it was.

Each day he waited for her to walk through the door, to tell him what he must do to be punished for his almost innumerable sins. Deep down, he knew whatever she chose would never be enough, too much blood on his hands. And he was all to comfortable with those stains, almost like his father was. It seemed he had followed his father step for step, save for the having a child part. He had killed the woman he loved, taken whatever he wanted.

His intention with going to Danko was to do something his father never could, to become more than that pathetic excuse for a human being had be. To harness real power, and show people why he was so feared.

It was on the fifth day that he heard the click of the door, and his eyes raised to watch whoever entered there. He half expected Peter, or someone other than Elle, thinking she was likely to distraught to face him again. But in she walked, her gold hair pulled back, but not into a ponytail. Into a tight bun, something that reminded him of something Angela would wear, something fierce and adult about her resonated.

"Decided, then?"

His words still came out a growl, he was still on the defensive with her, and he would be lying if he did not admit he worried about what she would decide.

"Fate decided for me."

He got to his feet, as if showing he was superior to her, towering over her. She knew it was nothing more than a gesture, posturing as he was in a place of submission. His brows knit together, a glimpse of the confusion she had seen in his eyes the moment they met.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She shifted, seemingly uncomfortable where she stood before him. Her hands nervously came to her stomach, but her face did not echo any of the body language she was giving off. There was nothing left to do other than to tell him the truth, tell him the irony of everything that had happened.

"Two days ago I thought I knew what I was going to do with you. I was going to keep you here, punish you by making you impotent. I was on my way down here to tell you, and then all the sudden...I felt sick to my stomach."

His face shifted, and maybe he thought she meant that she couldn't punish him. That her love for him made it impossible for her to make him pay for his crimes. He was wrong, and anger flared softly in her face at his assumption of victory.

"So Angela made me go to the doctor, and come to find out? I'm pregnant. So guess, what, Sylar...Gabriel Gray...Whomever you are? You're going to be father."

A part of her wanted to leave it at that, to leave him to whatever he had to come to grips with and turn on heel fleeing the room. She had come to terms with all of it, the realization that the man she loved and who had killed her, and also managed to place a child in her womb. That Claire's magic blood enabled that child to gain life again, and start to grow.

He sat back down on his cot, his eyes searching the floor.

"You're sure? It's mine?"

"No, it's Peter's. Between my powers shorting out, Arthur locking me in a cell, and running around with you, I had time to screw someone else." Elle scoffed, offended. "Even you are not that stupid."

He got that vacant look in his eyes, one she was beginning to recognize. It was as if their entire relationship had been on fast forward, they met, quickly developed a history. She had chased him, he had been her one goal for so many months, capture and contain, stop the serial killer. He had dug into her skull twice and allowed her crimson life to pour onto porcelain skin.

"I'm a-a father? Me?" His words came out little more than a whisper and the question was not to anyone but himself. But she answered it anyway.

"Yep, and just over a week ago, you were ready to team up with and go hog wild with the man who'd probably just assume put a bullet in my abdomen."

She leaned in closer, and lowered her voice for emphasis. "Stings like a bitch, don't it?"

Once again the nagging need to leave pulled at her ankles, and her mind, but she ignored it. Some sadistic part of her that was left wanted to attempt to enjoy this. But somewhere buried deep with in her, she knew full well she wasn't going to be able too. She would be lying if she said that seeing him in pain didn't hurt her on some level. That didn't mean she would forget what he had done to her.

"I've been debating in my mind for the past two days whether or not I want you in this child's life. In my life. And for the most part, the answer has come back a resounding no."

It was that moment, she saw it. Gabriel, whatever side or whatever personality he was, coming back to him, coming back to her. As his fierce determination fell from his eyes and in it's stead came terror. She didn't doubt this was a scenario that Gabriel had never considered, a child by her or anyone else.

"Elle, you can't. What if...What if he's like me?"

"Then I'll handle it. You've already taken the life of this child once, I'm not going to let you do it again."

It was as if something completely foreign came over him, and he moved to kneel before her, to beg her. Her eyes looked down at him, begging back for him not to do it. Not to test her resistance, to see how truly thin it was. "I won't let him be like you, Gabriel."

_Oh I know I've left you in places of despair. _But it didn't stop him, it didn't even slow him down. She could see it all in the look on his face, what he was about to ask her, what he was about to promise her. He would put the ball completely in her court, and she would be forced to make a dire choice.

"Please, Elle, let me help you with this."

Even Elle knew this wasn't how it was supposed to go, this was supposed to be shared between two people that were elated for it. Two people that loved each other. She'd worry, after she came home from the doctor with her mother, or a close friend, how he would take the news of a baby. After a few hours, she would tell him what she had found out, and he would be so excited, pulling her into his arms and saying how happy he was, how happy she had made him.

That was the normal way of things.

The only problem was, they were nowhere near normal.

She felt his arms go around her thigh, his forehead pressing at about the same height. She didn't have to look down to feel the tears in his eyes, as the cold wetness seeped a little through her black slacks.

"I can't just forgive you, Gabriel, and I can't just believe you're now going to change, to try to be better because of this. I wasn't enough, why would a child be?"

He strained for a moment, though he could sense the lies of others that did not prevent him from lying himself. Right now he could tell her everything she wanted to hear, everything she wanted him to say to make it all better, magically. But she deserved more than that.

"I'm not sure it is. But I can try."

She pulled away from his grasp, her head shaking rapidly. "This isn't a game, you don't just try. If you try and loose, we end up dead."

It was like magnetics, no matter how hard she tried to stay away from him, she was pulled back. She wasn't sure if she could forgive him for what he did, or if she could ever feel the way she once did about him. All that did not change the fact that the small being within her belly was half his, half of him. Even if she cut him forever out of her life, she would look at her little one's smile, or their hair, and see his face, his expressions.

She would never truly escape him, not now.

"Danko's got more clearance than ever now, and he's attempting to take everyone down. As far as the U. knows, I never died. He knows I'm associated with the Petrelli's now, so...I'm a target....We're a target."

She wasn't referring to she and Gabriel, and that was made obvious when her hand moved to her stomach. Danko would be gunning for her, due to the mission Angela had sent her on, she knew he was the kind of man to take things very personally, based on the bullet wound Peter had gotten.

"I won't let him." He said, an unfinished statement.

What he wouldn't let Dank do was unclear, wouldn't let him target Elle, capture her, kill her.

"I'm not your responsibility anymore....And your not mine. I'm putting you back under Angela's hand, I'll let her decide what to do with you. Personally, I'm too emotionally invested to make an unbiased decision."

She could feel her heart plummet in her chest, the battle within her raging. She loved him, and he had killed her. There wasn't going to be a happy little nuclear family, in their house in the suburbs. There would be no heartfelt glance after she gave birth, where he told her she still looked beautiful even with reddened cheeks and sweat drenched hair stuck to her forehead.

Trust was coming slow with Angela, and she had actually gone to the matriarch and asked her to take on whatever the fate of Gabriel would be. He may have killed her, but she didn't think she could seal his fate in any sort of way that would constitute revenge.

Her hands still settled at her belly, and she turned to leave him to his solitude, leave him to all the thoughts that had haunted her mind for the last few days. Maybe he too would think about all the things they would never have, and mourn the loss.

Healing would take time, and effort on both sides. At the time she wasn't even sure she wanted to attempt it, because healing her mind was almost instantaneous and that had been incredibly painful. She figured trying to fix any part of what had happened between her and Gabriel would be nothing short of excruciating.

"Goodbye, Gabriel."

"Wait..."

She turned, looking back to him.

"If she ever offers me out of this cell, I'm not going to take it till I can do more than try."

She nodded her head, solemn and silent. "I hope you make it out, then. A wise woman once told me something about Power, that if never fills the void in the soul you think it might, if you made yourself a God? You'd be alone. Something to think about, I guess."

"Goodbye, Elle."


End file.
